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I first met Deacon Jones through his book stall in the open-air French Market. He's since moved to a nearby storefront on Decatur near the statue of Joan d'Arc. It is unusual to find new books in an outdoor market. Even more unusual was the selection he offered: books about the Creole and Black American experience that I had never seen in chain bookstores.

Being a Yankee, I was unschooled in the complex racial makeup and history of New Orleans, where Native Americans mixed with mostly French Europeans and Congolese Africans creating a society of mixed-race ("Creole") free people of color. This melting pot was further augmented by an influx of free Haitians after the slave revolt there.

Before the U.S. Civil War, you had a situation in New Orleans where free Blacks owned mixed-race slaves. This was somewhat confusing to the Americans who bought Louisiana, and were used to British-based dividing lines between the races rather than the more generous French attitude that provided a place at the table for all offspring. The Americans instituted the "Code Noir" here, stripping free blacks and Creoles of their rights to vote, hold property, educate their children in French, and imposing other indignities that no free person should be subjected to. This code has existed more or less ever since.

In New Orleans, the Creoles were forced to take their culture and their businesses underground. They sold their assets in the Vieux Carre to the Italians, who the Americans despised, and the Italians kept the Creoles as silent partners. At the dawn of the 20th century, the population of the "French Quarter" was 95 percent Sicilian. The roots of corruption in New Orleans are in the Code Noir, which forced people to operate outside the official channels where they were prohibited from trading as free people.

As late as 1959, City Park in New Orleans -- the fourth largest urban park in America -- did not allow "people of color" to use park facilities. This is a park whose maintenance was paid for with tax dollars collected from those same "people of color." This is a park where prison inmates -- predominantly African-American males -- were and still are used to groom the four golf courses and dozens of tennis courts. As far as I know, there is still no basketball court in City Park, nor is there a single swimming pool in the park, though we live in a city where the average summer temperature is over 85 degrees. Doesn't that strike you as odd?

Anyway, back to our story. After many years of many New Orleanians -- white, black, Creole, you name it -- struggling to get these stupid laws off the books, something that approaches equal standing before the law, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, was passed. The city officially integrated, and thus began the white flight.

If the government was going to have to build as many basketball courts as tennis courts, well, they'd just starve the public coffers, put the money into private schools, private churches, private clubs, and/or move to a more racially homogenous taxing district. New Orleans was left bankrupt to deal with its problems without its former leaders or their assets. So who did New Orleanians pick to lead them? The Creoles. The former "aristocracy of the colored class," many of whom had gone underground to survive, and who brought their underground ways of getting things done to City Hall.

Deacon Melvin Jones walked through much of the history of this struggle in a personal way few can appreciate. He was stripped of his ministry by the Catholic Church because of his political activities on behalf of civil rights in New Orleans. Only recently were those credentials restored.

Deacon Melvin Jones is a humble man. Getting his story out of him was quite difficult. We recorded this interview in 2007 at the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival in the lobby of the Bourbon Orleans Hotel -- the kind of grand locale where people of color were at one time not welcome. We also interviewed the pastor of Our Lady Star of the Sea, Father Tony Ricard, the same day.

Deacon Jones' church in the St. Roch neighborhood was devastated by Katrina but is still packed every Sunday with hundreds of the most beautiful people of all color and a full gospel choir that will shake you to your timbers! We released Father Tony Ricard's interviews some time ago. This incredible clip of Deacon Melvin Jones was never released because I was too busy to write a proper introduction. My apologies to the Deacon and his family.

So today, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2009, on the eve of the inauguration of the first African-American U.S. President, AuthorViews is proud to present a true hero in the fight for human dignity, Deacon Melvin Jones! Please visit his web site, visit his store, and ask for his blessing. It works wonders!

STEVE O'KEEFE
President, AuthorViews, Inc.

Tags: 2008, Deacon Melvin Jones, Martin Luther King, Jr., Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival,

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The traditional publishing model was designed to publish books not create entrepreneurs or build businesses. The newer model, self-publishing and print-on-demand is perfect for writers and info-preneurs that want a solution to make money fast, increase exposure or grow a business.

Writing a book and turning that book into multiple informational products to sell to your clients can be both profitable and exciting. Fact, successful info-preneurs create eBooks, CDs, MP3 files and other info-products to increase their residual income. So could you!

To learn more about how you can create info-products to grow your business, or increase your brand awareness attend the upcoming Teleseminar: Transform Your Book, Brand Name and Business into Multiple Info-Products.

The 60 minute Teleseminar will be held on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 8pm EST.

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MIT Free Culture became especially interested in the issue after YouTube announced that it would begin using filtering technology to scan users' video and audio for near-matches with copyrighted material. While automating the takedown process may make enforcement easier, it also means that content falling under fair-use exceptions and even totally innocuous videos may receive some of the collateral damage.

As YouTube is not very transparent with the details surrounding this process and the software used, YouTomb was conceived to shed light on YouTube's practices, to educate the general public on the relevant copyright issues, and to provide helpful resources to users who have had their videos wrongfully taken down.

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Here at AuthorViews, we have a long standing interest in online video and its deployment. After all, we've been at this for years now -- our first videos were filmed on January 24, 2004, at a studio in New Orleans. As a result, we tend to keep an eye on the constant evolution of video and how it is used in the online world.

With that in mind, there are two news items that mark a long-awaited evolution in the way people use web-based video that I would like to share. Join me as we take a quick look at some of the developments that have occurred now that the hurdle of long download times is basically a thing of the past.

On June 24, LawInfo.com issued a press release about their plans for the future. Those plans heavily feature online video as an integral component:

Video is rapidly emerging as the new online medium of choice -- in fact, it is estimated that one billion consumers will watch video on the Internet by 2012. In an effort to expend the potential of video within the legal industry, LawInfo has gathered together a team of innovative and accredited professionals in web marketing and media production to build out a new, strategically-designed website featuring online video.

When faced with a legal issue, especially a serious and time-sensitive issue such as being arrested, having to file for bankruptcy, or fighting for child custody, the last thing a person needs is to be hit with complicated legal jargon and confusing procedures on what steps to take. LawInfo has produced online videos that take the mystery out of the legal process by breaking down complex legal problems into clear, easy-to-understand solutions. These "how-to" videos feature answers to legal questions in all major areas of law, including family law, estate planning, criminal law, business, bankruptcy and labor and employment.

Online video is also a critical marketing tool for attorneys. To provide its clients with maximum exposure and to help the public find the right attorney, LawInfo is offering law firms and other legal professionals an opportunity to sponsor a pre-existing online video, or to customize a video tailored to their specific practice, in the area of law of their choice. Further, LawInfo is encouraging clients to submit their own video package which will be accessible to all LawInfo site visitors and marketed by a team of specialists to ensure it reaches the widest possible audience.

The report said that as of the end of 2007, one out of every 1.3 Internet users in China used online video. The survey also found that video users’ incomes were higher than the average income of Chinese Internet users, with 30% making over 2,000 yuan a month.

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